Flamed Maple

[floody_85]

Hey guys,
Im nearing completion of an electric guitar that im building for my brother. It has a nice flamed maple top on it that was originally going to be dyed red and then cleared over the top. Now hes decided he likes the look of it without colour so just wants it natural. What is the best way to finish it? I want it to be a hard gloss finish but I would like the grain to pop a little more. Any suggestions on the best way to finish this?

[Pat]

1st question, Have you got some offcuts to test the finishes?

I'd suggest either Wipe On Poly or the spray Poly after sanding to 1200 or even better 12000.

[floody_85]

Yea ive got some offcuts i was planning on testing with. I do have some poly here. Would it show off the grain alot but? I was thinking of giving it a coat of a light yellow or amber dye and then sanding back a little. I was told that will pop the grain nicely

[groeneaj]

Whatever finish you choose please post a pic of the end result - looks fantastic

[floody_85]

Cheers mate, Ill be sure to post a finished pic. Ive never finished flame maple before so Im a bit lost

[Sebastiaan56]

West Systems epoxy works really well on Blackwoods etc.Use the minimum you can and if you need 3 coats so be it. Then finish with whatever you were going to use, poly etc. Look forward to the result Floody, you've done a great job so far!

[auscab]

Iv'e got a book here ,The Beauty Of The Burst ,
Gibson les pauls from 58 to 60 , the Holy grail
of guitar collecting,packed with what must be
the most valueable guitars on earth, your timber
looks just as good as them. I would never
wipe direct colour on to timber with grain like that,
it gets sucked in deep on the end grain stripes
and does little on the rest, and if you get it wrong
its there for good, I would size a test bit first with glue
size to hold a light layer of colour just where you
want it then seal it in from there,[ I would use estapol
sanding sealer ] is what I would do then I would go
shellac after that, whatever ,the size bit is the important
bit.
I described it in detail on Alans post, Les Paul
Junior style guitar build, down the bottom of page
three,a few days back,there are a few important
steps involved ,what I forgot to add there is
when I do it I usually stain with thinner or spirit
based stains after, not water based, try some glue
size at different strengths on test bits dry them off
and then wipe with your colour and do one without size
and you will see the differences
this method of sealing the grain before staining was
also done with shellac to hold coulors up or out of end grain

I would probably be doing a light colour like yellow or amber
with an analine powder called auramine, or to amber with
bismark brown
if you use these you can mix your stains at your own strength
[ I'm pretty sure they are analine, never asked but have
been using them for a long time] mixed with a little shellac
to temper it or give it some hold
let me know if you cant get any. cheers Rob

[Sir Stinkalot]

How about checking this out?

Episode 32- Pop Goes the Maple | The Wood Whisperer

[groeneaj]

Couple you please tell me where you got your maple from ?

Cheers, Andy

[floody_85]

Thanks for all the advice. I also have Beauty of the Burst Rob..Talk about guitar !!!
I would do bad things for one of them lol.

Sir Stinkalot, thanks for the link. Ill check it out.

Andy, the maple came from usa. I had 4 or 5 tops sent over cos shipping is pretty pricey. Well worth the money but..

Im hoping to try some test pieces tomorrow so Ill post the results. Thanks guys

[groeneaj]

Andy, the maple came from usa. I had 4 or 5 tops sent over cos shipping is pretty pricey. Well worth the money but..

Do you mind telling me the company/website you went through and how much shipping was etc?

Thanks for your time mate

[Sebastiaan56]

Ive never bought from these guys but the stuff they have is very cool Fraser Valley Fine Woods

[auscab]

The auamine and bismark brown are not analine like I said before, I spoke to the guy that sells them and he said they haven't used analine for 40 years,He couldn't tell me what type of dye they were but said to google, I did that , did not come up with a name for it,It just said for use on leather paper wood, is can be used with water or spirit.

Beauty of the burst, guitar all right . lol

more on what I was saying before about sealing then colouring with size, sometimes with the wet sanding bit you can end up with black to grey spots when it dries, to fix a wipe with oxalic acid soloution fixes it.
and if you didn't do the size thing you could probably get similar looks to the burst book sealing with poly sanding sealer then coulor up with the bismark brown in a thin shellac applied with a rubber thin, when colour is right seal with clear shellac and work on the shine.

These are hand methods for getting what was done with a spray gun ,the french polishers rubber method of colouring up is a good way of fine tuning colour in, I have seen on you tube guys spraying colours between coats,

It's interesting to look at page 82 62 and 58 in the burst book on some of the damaged finishes,you can see where the finish came off the colour went with it,meaning it's between layers ,not in the timber. also page 178

Is the look you are going for like the ones in the book ?

cheers Rob

[floody_85]

Hey Rob,
If it was my guitar, i would be going for one of them..But its for my brother and he doesnt want any colour.. Just as clear and natural a gloss that i can get. I tired some samples wit a clear poly i had. It brings out the grain really well but yellows a little.

I tried two pieces, one i sanded to 400 before finishing. The sanding removed pretty much all the figure though. I tried anutha without sanding and it showed the figure beautifully! But it is a little rough. What would be the best way to counter this problem? Im thinking i might put a sanding sealer on it first and then go to the clear poly which ill prob spray on.

[auscab]

The figure should still be there after a sand ,but the shine after a coat, if dull may make it a little harder to see, did the second one have the same amount of figure as the first?
It's normaly a good thing to sand very smooth so you dont cut through high spots later,
I would try sand to 400 , blow out the grain with air then try poly.
Or an old trick for showing figure was sand then give a wipe with boiled linseed oil , leave for 24 hours, then on to shellac, but it should work with poly.
The poly I use is wattyl sanding sealer, [ Im pretty sure it is a polly Urethane ] I thin it with mineral turps 20% to 30 % one coat then fine cut back with 400 then second coat, from there I go to shellac, a mix of blonde and a little orange flake for strength, but on to a gloss polly should be fine.

seeing the grain is the same as looking at a pool of water on a windy day compared to a perfectly still day,when it's perfectly reflective its's like a lens and you get a clear view of the bottom, and when it's rough on top the opposite.

keeping the coats thin should help with the yellow, cheers Rob